In Berlin, the Art World Spreads Out to Stay Safe

BERLIN — It has been a long time coming, but after six months of coronavirus-enforced inactivity, the international art world was re-energized by a hectic week here of live exhibitions and events. With all the summer’s most important live art fairs, exhibitions and auctions canceled, Berlin Art Week, which ended Sunday, became the art world’s first significant international event since March.

Anchored by Gallery Weekend Berlin, a collaborative promotion of dealer-organized exhibitions that was postponed from its usual slot in April, the event also included the Positions Berlin fair, a platform for less-prominent dealerships, primarily from Germany, and numerous satellite shows at which the art was also on sale. These coincided with the openings of longer-term, noncommercial exhibitions like “Studio Berlin,” a collaboration between the local married collectors Christian Boros and Karen Lohmann and the techno club Berghain, and the Berlin Bienniale.